Remote desktop from windows to Ubuntu 18.04

This post is about connecting your remote Ubuntu desktop from your Windows one, especially using the default VNC server on Ubuntu. The basic idea is that 

• We launch the default VNC server
• We then use a VNC viewer on Windows to connect the remote Ubuntu desktop

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is a cross-platform screen sharing system that was created to remotely control another computer. 

The default VNC server on Ubuntu (18.04) is called Vino. It's part of the GNOME project. The Desktop Sharing app you see is vino-preferences. 

On Ubuntu, to launch VNC server:

/usr/lib/vino/vino-server

On Windows, install and use a VNC viewer, e.g., https://www.filehorse.com/download-vnc-viewer/

and enter the VNC server (Ubuntu) properties - IP address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xx:5900 to connect.

vncserver grey screen Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

The symptom happens when I tried to connect from Windows 10 to Ubuntu laptop via the tightvnc viewer where the Ubuntu laptop is running tightvncserver

Solution:

$ sudo apt-get install gnome-panel gnome-settings-daemon metacity nautilus gnome-terminal

Add the following lines to ~/.vnc/xstartup

gnome-panel & 

gnome-settings-daemon & 

metacity & 

nautilus &

[source]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/800302/vncserver-grey-screen-ubuntu-16-04-lts